THE GEOGRAPHY OF HEALTHCARE

MOBILE WOMEN’S HEALTH CLINICS IN TEXAS

Section 1: Highlighting Need

Across the 268,597 square miles of Texas, access to women’s healthcare is deeply uneven. Large regions of the state function as “healthcare deserts,” where high- population communities have few or sometimes no access to nearby clinics providing essential services like contraception, cancer screenings, and preventive care. Many rural Texans face long travel distances, limited transportation options, and months-long wait times.

These barriers make timely, comprehensive healthcare out of reach for many, underscoring the urgent need for solutions that meet people where they are.

That’s where mobile health care units come in.

Use the bar on the right to scroll through this story

Section 2: Health Outcomes.

Learn more.

Scroll down.

The impact on women’s health has been
especially severe. Nearly half of
Texas counties (46.5%) are classified as
maternity care deserts,
meaning they lack access to birthing facilities
or maternity care providers altogether.
For thousands of women, even basic
pregnancy care requires
traveling far from home.

Learn more.

Scroll down.

Barriers to care extend beyond pregnancy.
Across Texas, 1.75 million women
in need live in contraceptive deserts, where access to
affordable birth control is limited or nonexistent.
In Texas, 153,040 women
live in counties without a
single health center offering a full range
of birth control methods.
Together, these gaps in maternal and
women’s healthcare make timely,
comprehensive care out of reach for many,
underscoring the urgent need for solutions
that meet people where they are.

Section 3: Mapping Need.

Population
This map shows the population of women of reproductive age (15-49) in 2023.

Providers per 1,000
This map shows the ratio of providers – such as doctors, nurses practitioners, or physician assistants – with at least 10 new birth control prescriptions per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 2023.

FPP Providers.

HTW Providers.

{
  const mapId = "test_map";

  const baseLabels = [
    "Population",
    "Total Providers per 1,000 Women 15-49"
  ];

  const overlayLabels = [
    "FPP Providers",
    "HTW Providers"
  ];

  // These must match the className= you set in addLegend()
  const legendClasses = {
    Population: "legend-pop",
    Providers: "legend-perk"
  };

  const sleep = (ms) => new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms));

  function getLeafletMap() {
    const sel = `#${mapId}`;
    try {
      const w = globalThis.HTMLWidgets?.find?.(sel);
      if (w?.getMap) return w.getMap();
    } catch (e) {}
    try {
      const w2 = globalThis.HTMLWidgets?.find?.(mapId);
      if (w2?.getMap) return w2.getMap();
    } catch (e) {}
    return null;
  }

  function getLayerControlRoot() {
    const el = document.getElementById(mapId);
    return el ? el.querySelector(".leaflet-control-layers") : null;
  }

  function getTriggersForSection() {
    const mapEl = document.getElementById(mapId);
    if (!mapEl) return [];
    const section = mapEl.closest(".cr-section") || document;
    return Array.from(section.querySelectorAll(".narrative-col .trigger"));
  }

  function activeTriggerIndex() {
    const triggers = getTriggersForSection();
    if (!triggers.length) return 0;

    const vc = window.innerHeight / 2;
    let bestIdx = 0;
    let bestDist = Infinity;

    for (let i = 0; i < triggers.length; i++) {
      const r = triggers[i].getBoundingClientRect();
      const c = (r.top + r.bottom) / 2;
      const d = Math.abs(c - vc);
      if (d < bestDist) {
        bestDist = d;
        bestIdx = i;
      }
    }
    return Math.max(0, Math.min(3, bestIdx));
  }

  async function clickRadioByLabel(label) {
    const control = getLayerControlRoot();
    if (!control) return;

    const all = Array.from(control.querySelectorAll("label"));
    const target = all.find(l => (l.textContent || "").trim() === label);
    if (!target) return;

    const input = target.querySelector("input[type='radio']");
    if (input && !input.checked) input.click();
  }

  async function setOverlays({ fpp = false, htw = false }) {
    const map = getLeafletMap();
    if (!map) return;

    try { map.hideGroup(overlayLabels[0]); } catch (e) {}
    try { map.hideGroup(overlayLabels[1]); } catch (e) {}

    if (fpp) {
      try { map.showGroup(overlayLabels[0]); } catch (e) {}
    }
    if (htw) {
      try { map.showGroup(overlayLabels[1]); } catch (e) {}
    }
  }

  function showOnlyLegend(which) {
    // which = "Population" or "Providers"
    const pop = document.querySelector(`.${legendClasses.Population}`);
    const per = document.querySelector(`.${legendClasses.Providers}`);

    if (pop) pop.style.display = (which === "Population") ? "" : "none";
    if (per) per.style.display = (which === "Providers") ? "" : "none";
  }

  async function applyStep(step) {
    // 0: Population, overlays off
    // 1: Providers per 1,000, overlays off
    // 2: Providers per 1,000, FPP on
    // 3: Providers per 1,000, HTW on
    if (step === 0) {
      await clickRadioByLabel(baseLabels[0]);
      showOnlyLegend("Population");
      await setOverlays({ fpp: false, htw: false });
    } else if (step === 1) {
      await clickRadioByLabel(baseLabels[1]);
      showOnlyLegend("Providers");
      await setOverlays({ fpp: false, htw: false });
    } else if (step === 2) {
      await clickRadioByLabel(baseLabels[1]);
      showOnlyLegend("Providers");
      await setOverlays({ fpp: true, htw: false });
    } else if (step === 3) {
      await clickRadioByLabel(baseLabels[1]);
      showOnlyLegend("Providers");
      await setOverlays({ fpp: false, htw: true });
    }
  }

  async function install() {
    for (let i = 0; i < 120; i++) {
      if (getLeafletMap() && getLayerControlRoot()) break;
      await sleep(50);
    }

    const key = "__crStepSwitchInstalled";
    if (globalThis[key]) return null;
    globalThis[key] = true;

    let lastStep = -1;
    let ticking = false;

    const update = async () => {
      ticking = false;
      const step = activeTriggerIndex();
      if (step === lastStep) return;
      lastStep = step;
      await applyStep(step);
    };

    const onScroll = () => {
      if (ticking) return;
      ticking = true;
      requestAnimationFrame(update);
    };

    window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll, { passive: true });
    window.addEventListener("resize", onScroll, { passive: true });

    const triggers = getTriggersForSection();
    if (triggers.length) {
      const obs = new MutationObserver(onScroll);
      for (const t of triggers) obs.observe(t, { attributes: true, attributeFilter: ["class", "style"] });
    }

    await update();
    return null;
  }

  await install();
  null
}

Section 4: Introduce the concept of mobile clinics

Mobile healthcare units are designed to close gaps by bringing services directly to patients and communities, especially in rural areas. Mobile clinics reduce the distance, time, and cost barriers that prevent many women from accessing care. Mobile clinics set up in trusted community spaces and adapt their routes based on need. They offer a flexible, efficient way to deliver essential women’s health services, such as birth control, cancer screenings, prenatal care, and preventive visits. For women who don’t have reliable access to transportation, mobile clinics can be a literal lifeline. When speaking to patients, they praise the convenience, as they are no longer required to travel hours from home, miss work, school, or childcare. Mobile clinics don’t just expand access; they help ensure care happens earlier, more consistently, and on patients’ terms.

Section 5: Legislation

During the 89th Legislative Session, the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition and its partners secured $20 million in new state funding to expand mobile women’s health units across Texas, doubling down on a commitment to meet women where they are. This investment represents $10 million more than the amount secured in 2023, signaling growing legislative recognition of mobile healthcare as a critical solution to access gaps. This funding is the direct result of sustained, collective advocacy and a willingness by providers to find innovative solutions to reach the counties around them.

Section 6: On the road

A single mobile health unit can extend care across multiple counties that aren’t served by brick-and-mortar clinics. This map illustrates how mobile units move across regions with limited or no permanent healthcare infrastructures, reaching women who would otherwise face transportation barriers, or even no access at all.

Section 7: On the ground

Learn more.

Scroll on.

“Now we’re able to do a full clinic,
just like a brick-and-mortar clinic, just on wheels.”
— Dr. Perales, DNP, APRN, CNS-BC
Clinic Service Director, STFPHC

Section 8: Showing where they go

Route animation Explaining how mobile units can go to places where there aren’t brick and mortar

Section 9: What’s next